Missing in Action!

Holy moly it's been a long time since I last posted on here! I do have two good excuses (see below) honest, and I will be updating things here regularly from now on.

Excuse number one: I have been busy setting up and establishing my own junior parkrun. The first event was in January and it is all now running smoothly thanks to a team of volunteers (including me) who give up time each week to help run the event.
Excuse number two: I have been been busy thinking about where R:ACE needs to go next to develop into the global virtual club for running families that I dream of it becoming. For this to move forward I know we need to move into more social media than just Blogger and G+ and for that reason you can now join R:ACE on Facebook and Twitter. I look forward to chatting with you on one of these sites soon!

p.s. Please excuse the overexcited exclamation mark overload!

Santa Fun Run

Today our youngest and I will be taking part in the Portsmouth RNLI 5K Santa Fun Run.

And we'll be carrying a stocking filled with mini candy canes to throw to the supporters who brave the cold in order to line the race route and cheer us runners on!

Virtual Race Month

Although I am taking part in one 'real life' XC race and one Santa fun run this month, December seems to have otherwise become the month of participating in virtual races.
I am taking part in these virtual races:

• Run Mummy Run:http://www.virtualrunneruk.com/enter-rmr-race GLOW IN THE DARK race bling, oh yes!
• This sold out Christmas race series:http://www.virtualrunneruk.com/enter-dec

Look at the cute virtual race cards I got sent which show the charities benefitting from each race:

Do you participate in any virtual races?

junior parkrun

Our youngest decided that running 5K at the senior parkruns was a bit much for him but he quite fancied running the 2K junior parkruns. I wanted him to be able to enjoy running and the closest junior parkrun was nearly an hour away which isn't feasible for us. 

So, like any (crazy) parent of a running family would do - I volunteered my time as an event director in order to set up one here! 

It ended up taking a year and requiring the support of the local parkrun ambassador but, I now have funding,  the support of wonderful team of run directors, a fabulous core volunteer team, a lovely junior parkrun site, and a proposed (but still to be confirmed) start date in late January. You can find out lots more info about the free weekly junior and senior parkruns by clicking here.

Back of the Pack

This is a lovely article about the importance of runners at the back of the pack. Click here to be taken to the article on the Rules For Running site.

Bupa Great South Run

This will be our son's first chip timed race, and seeing his excitement when he opened the envelope containing his timing chip is a memory that I will treasure forever.  Thank you so much to everyone online and offline who have donated to our Lymphoma and Diabetes charities for this race  - you are all superstars. #runningfamily

You know you're a running family when...

You know you're a running family when:

1. Breakfast conversation includes discussion of running plans for the evening.
2. Your 11 year old informs you of where he wants to run on the weekend. 
3. Running gear takes up a large part of your wardrobe and shoe rack.
4. Social events are planned around the family race calendar.
5. You can eat treats without feeling guilty.
6. You have a sneaking suspicion that you're addicted to earning race finish line bling.
7. Your children's Christmas wish lists have running related items on them.
8. You have more than one running playlist that you listen to on a regular basis.

How do you know you're a running family? Let us know in the comment section here or on G+ and I will add them to this post.